The Rose
by Cecielz
Summary: [InoShika] Cute story about them, inspired by a poem
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone! Here's another story.

In this chapter and the others you will notice parts of a poem, I haven't made it myself but I saw it somewhere hanging on a wall, I wrote it down on the back of my timetable

_When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long, _

_

* * *

_

Shikamaru's P.O.V

Chapter 1.

"Shikamaru can you make a report of the last five missions?" asked Tsunade.

"Ye-"

"Please hand it in Tuesday." said Tsunade before Shikamaru could finish his sentence.

Shikamara nodded and looked at huge amount of paperwork on his desk. Being the strategic advisor of the Hokage meant a lot of paperwork, long boring days and a lot analyzing. No fieldtrips for him, he stayed in Konoha planning and analyzing every mission, advising the Hokage and making huge reports.

Though Shikamaru wanted an average life, he sometimes tried to remember how it felt when the fresh morning wind blew into your face while you headed for enemy territory. Probably _average_ life didn't suit him that well. How longer he kept staring at all the paperwork at his desk, the more he started to wonder how life would be when he would have chosen for fieldwork. Speaking about his life, his work wasn't the only thing he wasn't satisfied about it. He didn't have a girlfriend or someone of the opposite sex which he had a romantic relation with. Love, another feeling he desired. When he came home nobody was waiting for him, no children who came running towards them yelling, 'Daddy, daddy! Tell us about your mission.' no wife who would kiss and hug him. He wished his life was more like Naruto's, he was happily married with Sakura, and Sakura was pregnant so Naruto would become a father soon.

He looked at the clock that hung on the wall. Half past six, time to go home.

He gathered his stuff and walked out of the building.

On his way home he saw kids playing Ninja in the streets. Shikamaru smiled, after Orichimaru was killed Konoha returned to a peaceful quiet village. Kids could play safe once again.

Again he wondered if one day also his kids would play in the streets of Konoha. He didn't know, firs the had to find a wife which wouldn't be easy. He wasn't particularly known as Prince Charming in the village.

Shikamaru opened the door to his home, a large apartment with6 rooms, a living room, bathroom and a kitchen and three bedrooms. He looked at the mess in his apartment. He really needed someone to keep things clean while he was gone. He took a shelf with some leftovers from yesterday. His food mainly existed of ramen because that was the only thing he could cook. After his 'dinner' he took a seat on the couch and looked at his huge apartment. He had a high salary as strategic advisor and he could easy afford his apartment.

But money didn't make you happy.

If Shikamaru could trade his apartment for a nice little house with a wife and kids he would do that with no doubt.

Loneliness was one of the worst feelings a human could have realized Shikamaru. Being alone night and day was killing him.

He walked towards a big closet and pulled an old book out of it. His photo-album. His mom had always taken pictures of him while he was a child and putt them all into this photo-album. It contained all the Ino-Shika-Chou photo's. He walked towards a big chair and comfortably sat down in it.

He knew that is was quite girlish thing to look in photo-albums, but it was the only thing that diminished his loneliness.

He opened the album at page 10. He smiled when he saw the photo. It was a photo of Chouji, Ino and him. It was taken when he was still a genin, he could still remember that day. They decided to order some ramen and eat it a big field with several flowers. Ino was looking with a horrid look at Chouji who was eating three bowls of ramen, and he was staring at the clouds.

He looked a little closer at Ino. He never heard much of her, her house and flower shop were located on the other side of the village. She was probably married with a handsome guy and had many kids.

Still he thought of the idea of visiting her.

He yawned, it had been a busy day. He took a quick shower and went to bed.

Though he was really tired, he couldn't sleep. When he turned around and saw the empty spot beside him the pain of being lonely stroke him again in his heart.

'Damn how troublesome.' he thought and drifted of to sleep.

---

The next day wasn't very different from the day before, Tsunade had given him again huge amounts of paperwork, and like usual he had totally overworked himself.

It was nearly 8 P.M when he left Tsunade's office. He slowly walked towards his house like he always did. Why on earth would you hurry when nobody's waiting for you?

Suddenly a familiar voice called him.

"Oi Shikamaru!"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Sakura and I have organized a little dinner tomorrow evening, would you like to come?"

The thought of a descent meal and some social activity pleased him.

"Yeah, how late is it?"

"Around six."

"See you then, bye Shikamaru."

"Bye."

Shikamaru smiled, this was a perfect opportunity to find a nice girlfriend.


	2. Chapter 2

_And you think love is only for the lucky and the strong, _

_

* * *

_

Chapter 2

Ino's P.O.V

The flower shop was a booming business.

Still Ino earned just enough to pay the rent of her small apartment and to buy food.

She wasn't married so that also depended her income.

"Here you are, two red roses."

"Thank you dear." said the old woman she handed the roses to.

Ino sat down on the chair behind the counter. Being a florist was hard work. She had to look after all the flowers, take care of the customers and clean the shop. Some help would be nice but she didn't have the money to pay someone like that.

She sighted, her life sucked. She was 28 now and still single. Her flower shop offered her so little money she nearly couldn't live of it.

What had she ever done wrong to live such a horrible life? She had never killed anyone, she tried to be kind against others.

So why couldn't she live a romantic life like Sakura's?

Damn, she was in one of her moods again. Ino walked towards the door to put the sign closed on it. After she had done that she walked upstairs where her little apartment was.

She made an ice cup of tea for herself and sat down on a small chair.

"Now calm down, you WILL find yourself a nice husband who loves you." said Ino to herself.

Sometimes she lost confidence in herself and thought she would stay alone for the rest of her life.

She took a deep breath and relaxed. After that she took long shower to recover form her emotions. Though it was still 9 P.M Ino decided to go to bed.

---

"Hello Ino." said a voice.

"Who's there?" she replied.

"I'm the one you've loved for many years."

Ino's heart stopped beating.

"I'm your precious Sasuke."

"You're dead!" screamed Ino.

"I know, Hell is a awful place, and I'm here to take you with me."

"No!!!!!!" yelled Ino.

---

When Ino wake up she was still screaming.

It was just a nightmare, but it freaked the hell out of her.

When she was calmed down a bit she felt the need of someone loving her. Someone who would embrace her and say, it's alright I'm here for you. But that person wasn't there.

She grabbed the teddy-bear sitting next to her bed and started crying. She cried for two hours and then fell asleep again with the teddy-bear in her arms.

---

When Ino woke up it was nearly 12 A.M.

Luckily for her it was Sunday so the shop was closed.

After she was dressed she decided to visit Sakura.

Sakura's house was only a five minute walk form hers.

"Hi Ino!" said Sakura happily.

You could clearly see that she was pregnant.

"Hi." replied Ino.

"Something wrong?" asked Sakura who heard the sadness in her friend's voice.

"No."

"You're a bad liar."

Suddenly Ino hugged Sakura and start crying again.

"I see." said Sakura and tried to calm Ino down a bit.

Sakura led Ino into her house and took a seat on the couch.

"Tell me what happened."

"I had one of my dreams again."

"Will I ever find someone who loves me?" asked Ino with her eyes filled with despair.

"Of course, you just haven't found THE one yet."

A brilliant idea came up into Sakura's mind.

"You know what you can eat dinner at my home." said Sakura.

"Hell no, I've caused you too much trouble already."

"No you haven't, friends are there to help each other through difficult times."

"Just stay here for dinner." asked Sakura.

"Well ok."

Sakura smiled, "I'm back in a minute."

"Naruto!" yelled Sakura, "Would you like to do something for me?"


	3. Chapter 3

_Just remember that in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow _

_

* * *

_

Chapter 3.

Shikamaru had bought a new sweater for the dinner. Something he would normally never ever do. But when you had the oppurtunity to find a girlfriend you should take it with both hands.

He put some cologne on and went off to Naruto.

On his way to Naruto he thought of possible things he was going to say. He really had to come up with a plan or something because his charisma towards girls sucked.

It started to rain and when Shikamaru reached Naruto's she was soaked.

"Quick come in or you'll catch a cold." said Sakura when she saw Shikamaru soaked in the doorstep.

"Just wait in the living-room until I'm finished cooking." said Sakura and she walked to the kitchen.

He looked around, Sakura and Naruto owned a big house, almost as big as his.

"Hi! Shikamaru!" said a voice behind him.

He turned and saw that Ino sat on the couch behind him. Hi Ino, long time no see! Tell me about your life."

Shikamaru sat down beside Ino on the couch.

(Meanwhile in the kitchen)

"See I told you that they would be happy seeing each other again." said Sakura.

"I hope your plan works, Sakura." said Naruto with a grin.

"Of course." she replied with a bigger grin.

(Back to the couch)

"Well my life isn't that interesting, I own a flower shop and a small apartment above it, and I'm still single, so how about your life?"

'Yamanaka Ino, single?' thought Shikamaru, 'This might be a chance.'

"Well I'm strategic advisor of the Hokage, and I'm single too." he replied.

There was a long silence.

Shikamaru nor Ino didn't know what to say next.

It was Sakura who broke the silence. "Dinner time!"

After 3 weeks of eating ramen Shikamaru was very happy when he tasted normal food again.

"You're a good cook Sakura." said Shikamaru.

"Thank you, but Ino cooks a lot better than me."

He saw Ino blushing.

When Ino was in his team she was always bossy and loud-mouthed, but now she was quiet and kind. 'Time changes people.' thought Shikamaru.

After dinner they discussed the news and the usual matters.

When it was time to leave Shikamaru decided to invite Ino to his house.

"Ino?"

"Yeah?"

"We haven't seen each other for quite a while and I was wondering if you maybe would like it to visit me for a cup of tea." asked Shikamaru.

"The night is still young, so why not?" replied Ino.

They didn't say much as they walked through the streets of Konoha.

"Oh my god! Your house is huge!" Ino said when she saw Shikamaru's house.

Shikamaru unlocked the door and led Ino inside.

"Oh my god!" she repeated when she saw his living-room.

"I'll make a cup of tea, feel free to look around." said Shikamaru.

Ino sat down in a big chair.

Suddenly she noticed the photo-album on the table. She opened it and smiled when she saw the Ino-Shika-Chou pictures.

They had such a great time together.

"Here's your tea." said Shikamaru and gave Ino her tea. He sat down on a chair next to her.

"Do you look a lot into your photo-album?" asked Ino.

"Only when I feel lonely, it's kinda hard to live all on your own."

"I know the feeling." said Ino.

"Look this photo was taken when you became a Chuunin." she showed Shikamaru a photo of his younger self with his a brand new Chuunin vest on.

"There ended the Ino-Shika-Chou." said Shikamaru.

"Yeah."

Shikamaru noticed the sadness in her voice and into Ino's crystal blue eyes.

Ino looked back into his dark brown ones.

Shikamaru fought with the temptation toembrace and kiss her.

Ino stood up and said, "I have to go, it's getting late, thanks for the tea."

And she was gone.

Shikamaru realized that he had let her go. He was such a idiot, how could he let her go?

He decided that he would visit her tomorrow, and this time he wouldn't let her go.


	4. Chapter 4

_lies the seed that with the sun's love in the spring becomes _

_

* * *

_

Chapter 4.

"Great! At least a chance to leave the hell of loneliness and I screw it!" said Ino to herself.

"I just walked away, That's so stupid!"

"What do you think of it?" she said to her teddy-bear.

The teddy-bear only looked back at her with his friendly eyes.

She took him in her arms and sat down. "I'm so incredible stupid."

After a while a thought came up into her mind.

'Do I really love him?, Maybe I'm just using him to leave the loneliness.'

Shikamaru had always been her best friend, she had never told him but it was true. He had always been there for her. But did she really love him?

Suddenly she felt a warm feeling through her body, she smiled. She did love him.

Without hesitating she grabbed her coat and walked outside, towards Shikamaru's house.

The world seemed much more beautiful all sudden.

She noticed the birdswhistling in the trees and the lazy clouds that crept across the sky. _Shikamaru's clouds. _

His house appeared and Ino happily ran towards it.

She knocked on the door.

No-one opened.

She noticed a letter on the door-mat and picked it up.

_Ino, _

_I'll be off on a mission for about three weeks. _

_Don't worry it's nothing dangerous just a little visit to an allied country. _

_Love, Shikamaru. _

Ino sat down on his door-mat.

Three weeks, it seemed awfully long.

Three more weeks alone.

It looked like seconds changed into minutes and minutes into hours.

Even when she was busy with something time went slow.

Shikamaru had left the keys of his house with the letter and Ino decided to clean his house. She remembered when she was there that is was a big mess.

When she was busy cleaning his house she realized how big it was.

There could easily live four persons in this house.

When she was finished with cleaning she didn't want to go home.

She hoped that Shikamaru wouldn't mind that she stayed in his house when he got back and walked to the fridge to see what kind of food there was.

When she opened she nearly got a heart-attack.

The ramen that was in there was covered with fungi. And themilk was sour.

What the hell was he going to eat when he came home? Or what did he eat usually?

No way she was going to eat this. So she visited the supermarket to buy fresh vegetables and fruit.

And twenty minutes later Ino was eating a nice fresh cooked meal.

After she had eaten she went to take a bath.

Shikamaru had a huge bath, and Ino loved it.

She sat in it for nearly two hours using all the different kinds of soap he had.

She could get used to this.

Finally she went to sleep. She settled her self down in his enormous 2 persons bed.

Next morning she quickly gave her flowers water, grabbed some stuff from her own apartment and continued with cleaning Shikamaru's house.

After aday of hard work she had cleaned his entire house.

Ino smiled and hoped that Shikamaru would like it.

She headed to the supermarket to get some fresh vegetables. She was going to cook a fabulous meal for herself.

* * *

The chapters are a bit short sorry for that, but it's a busy period andtheteacherswon't stop giving me homework. 


	5. Chapter 5

_the rose._

_

* * *

_

Chapter 5.

When Tsunade asked if he wanted to go on a small mission to a foreign country he agreed immediately.

Later on he remembered that he wanted to visit Ino and regretted his decision.

He wrote a letter, putt it on the door-mat and left.

Three weeks later after the visit he was heading home again.

He hoped Ino was waiting for him, or at least left a note.

A smile appeared on his face when the houses of Konoha became visible in the distance.

Nothing would be nicer than a nice warm fresh cooked meal. But because there was nobody home he would probably eat some four weeks old ramen.

When he approached his house he saw that the lights were on.

He opened the door to his apartment and walked in. An aroma of fresh cooked food filled his nose. He walked towards the kitchen. There he found Ino busy cooking. She didn't noticed him and continued cooking. A smile crept across Shikamaru's face.

"Hello Ino." he said.

She turned around, smiled and said, "How was your mission?"

"Not that interesting, just talking with other leaders etc."

"You mind that I lived in your house for a while?" she asked with her innocent blue eyes.

"Course not," he said, "I see that you've cleaned the whole mess, thank you for that."

"No problem."

"Dinner is ready." said Ino and putt a shelf with Taiyaki on the table.

"That looks good." said Shikamaru who looked hungry at the Taiyaki.

"Thanks." said Ino.

They took a seat and started eating. Shikamaru didn't know when was the last time he had such a good meal. Ino was with no doubt a fabulous cook.

"You have a nice house."said Ino.

"I wish I could say." she whispered a little too loud.

"Well," said Shikamaru.

"Sorry Shika, I...I,"

Shikamaru grabbed her hand and said, "You can stay if you like."

"I can?!" yelled Ino happily.

"I'm recognizing the old Ino again." said Shikamaru smiled.

"But I can?" asked Ino hopefully.

"Of course."

"I'm so happy." said Ino.

"Me too, I've been terrible lonely last years."

Shikamaru crept a bit closer to Ino.

"Ah whatever." she said and jumped on top of Shikamaru.

"Where did come from?" said Shikamaru with a smile.

"From a girl that has been lonely for the past four years."

He rolled over so Ino lay beneath him.

"Bad boy." she said.

He kissed her on her lips.

"How long can I stay?"

"Well... How about, forever?"

"Doesn't sound bad."

"Your Taiyaki was great."

"I can make some more if you like?"

"That would be nice."

"By the way, your bath is awesome."

"It is? I've never used it before. I always take the shower. You know what why don't we go together in it?"

"Seems fun." replied Ino.

He took in her in his arms and walked towards the bathroom.

* * *

End! yay! Personally I think this is my worst fic, but I continued writing it because of the reviews.  
About the Taiyaki, I've seen it in a other manga so I used it as food. 


End file.
